53 Chapter 53: Visi

The formal ceremony took the whole night, but when it finally ended, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I shouldn't complain, actually. I got a free meal – free delicacies that were normally exorbitantly expensive and available only to the upper class, which was probably worth the few hours standing around awkwardly waiting for the damned thing to end.

I couldn't remember exactly what happened – my lack of interest meant that everything flew by so fast. All I remembered was the meal, and the dance with Alicia, and squabbling with Adrian over trivial stuff (he was teasing me about Alicia and asking me whether she truly was better than his cousin). Other than that, everything just passed in a blur, and the next thing I knew, we were dismissed.

"Shall we go?" Alicia asked with a smile. I nodded.

"See you around, Adrian," I told the kid. Despite our verbal spar, we had actually become quite good friends. I had a lot more in common with Adrian than I realized.

"Make sure you come again!" Adrian said brightly. I grinned and shrugged noncommittedly.

"We'll see."

"Goodbye, Adrian."

"Bye, Big Sister Alicia!"

After waving farewell, the two of us stepped out of the hotel lobby, only for Cecilia to catch up.

"I'll send you both back to Jing Tian City," she offered. Flanked by a group of bodyguards, she gestured toward them. One of them nodded and made a call, and within the next minute, a limousine pulled up.

"No, we can't put you through so much trouble," Alicia protested, but Cecilia shook her head.

"I was the one who invited you. I won't be able to sleep well tonight if I don't make sure the both of you reach home safely."

Alicia and I exchanged glances, and then I bowed.

"Thank you very much. We'll take you up on your offer then."

With that settled, the three of us climbed into the long, black limousine. Her bodyguards followed, sitting in a different compartment. We gave our addresses to the driver, who then input it in his Global Positioning System fixed to the dashboard of his car.

"Do you two mind if we drop by somewhere first?" Cecilia asked as the limousine began to move. The both of us glanced at each other, and then shook our heads in unison.

"You're doing us a favor, so of course we don't mind." Alicia smiled.

"Please go ahead," I added.

"Thank you." Cecilia then leaned forward to speak to her driver. Sliding the window shut, she then leaned back in the rich, leather seats that made up the compartment of the limousine. "This won't take up too much time."

"Where are we going?" I asked curiously. Cecilia merely smiled mysteriously.

"Just going to pay a short visit."

Since she didn't elaborate, I didn't press her for details and simply nodded. She was doing Alicia and me a favor, so we really didn't have the right to complain.

The limousine traveled through the brightly illuminated road, which was surprisingly still bustling with traffic at this time of the night. A big city like Southampton was certainly different from a small one like Jing Tian City. The population here, and the nightlife were on another level.

At least that was what I thought until the limousine took a side route and drove into a less crowded road. There were a lot less cars here, and the further along we drove, the more deserted it became. Evidently we were heading to a remote part of the city, which was less populated and less busy.

The streetlamps also thinned out, making this part of the city look darker and gloomier. I caught a glimpse of mountains. So we were heading toward the edge of Southampton City. That made sense. Jing Tian City was outside Southampton, several dozen kilometers north of it, to be exact. To get there, we had to exit the city and go into the highway.

Most likely Cecilia planned to visit a stop along the way, a place that was on the outskirts of Southampton and just before the highway.

"It's a beautiful city, isn't it?" Cecilia asked suddenly, breaking the serene silence. I didn't know if Alicia had dozed off, but she abruptly sat up straight and nodded with a smile.

"Yes. It's so huge…" Alicia's voice was full of wonder. "No matter how many times I come here, I'm always amazed by how magnificent Southampton is."

Cecilia giggled. "If you live here long enough, you'll get used to it. In fact…" her eyes took on a distant gaze. "I kind of prefer how simple your Jing Tian City is."

The grass was greener on the other side, as they always said. Not that I cared. One city was the same to me, especially since I had lived in a variety of cities prior to my death, and eventually ended up in Jing Tian City after coming to this far future. I wouldn't say I had seen everything, but I was aware that each city had its own beauty and ugliness.

"We're here, Mistress."

The limousine slowed down and pulled to a stop. Cecilia nodded as she glanced at the window that had been slid open for the driver to inform her of the news.

"Thank you." she then pushed the door open. "You two can wait here."

"Do you mind if we come along?" Alicia asked curiously, glancing outside. It was pretty dark and we could hardly make anything out. Evidently she wasn't comfortable with letting Cecilia walk around on her own in such an environment. The glance she sent me confirmed that I was right about her opinion regarding that.

"Sure, but it's nothing much." Cecilia looked surprised. Again, evidently, she didn't think she needed anyone's protection. And from what I had seen of her combat abilities, I was inclined to agree. Rather, anyone who attempted to assault her was going to need protection from her. "And it shouldn't take too much time."

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"All the better." Alicia smiled reassuringly, and then climbed out after her friend after the latter pushed the door open and disembarked. I reluctantly followed, quenching the desire to just lie on the rich, leather seats and doze off.

To be honest, I was curious as to where we were taken to, so it wasn't all too bad. I looked around curiously as my leather shoes crunched against gravel. It seemed that we were at the foot of a mountain. There was a vast, wide park to the left of the limousine, just opposite of where we disembarked. On the right, there was a row of metallic gates and an exquisitely crafted entrance. Its architectural shape reminded me of Gothic design.

"Where is this place?" Alicia asked as she followed Cecilia through the gates. I hastily strode after them, not wanting to be left behind. The Black Rose Society president's question was answered, not by Cecilia, but by the contents of the space behind those black iron gates.

We were in a graveyard.

Countless tombstones rose over the quiet, gloomy garden, often sporting crosses, angels or some other design. It had the distinct appearance of a Christian cemetery, but I wasn't sure if Christianity remained a cohesive religion this far in the future. Even so, I was aware that elements of the great religion had lingered and been coopted into many customs. No matter the age, there was always a significant portion of people who needed God to pray to.

I was no exception, to be honest, but I tended to keep my faith to myself. Not because I was afraid people would mock me for my beliefs, but simply because I personally thought it was wrong to force my beliefs on others.

"…eh?"

Alicia now sounded uncertain, and she slowed down. I stepped up to her side and reached out to hold her hand in a reassuring grip. She was so tense, but upon feeling her hand in mine, she relaxed and glanced at me thankfully, a slight blush on her pretty face.

"Don't worry. I'm just here for a short visit, as I said."

"…to who?" Alicia asked softly.

"A relative, perhaps?" I offered. Cecilia paused for a fraction of a second before she nodded.

"That's right," she replied quietly before she continued walking deeper into the graveyard. "My mother."

Both Alicia and I stared at her, dumbfounded, and then hurriedly moved to catch up.

Cecilia finally stopped in front of one of the graves, a single one with a huge benevolent angel gazing down gently at the mound below. Upon the surface of the tombstone the angel was perched on, I could make out the words "Clara Stuart, beloved wife and mother." Apparently she had passed away on 2902, about three years ago.

"It's good to see you again, Mother," Cecilia whispered as she bowed her head, and then lapsed into a respectful silence. Both Alicia and I also lowered our heads quietly, not saying a single word. Several minutes passed, and Cecilia finally straightened up. She smiled and gestured toward us. "These are my friends. Alicia Violet and Richard Huang. I'm sure you'll be happy to meet them."

Both Alicia and I kept our heads respectfully inclined.

"Mother was a hero, you know?" Cecilia turned around to face us proudly. "She was a combat mage, who also graduated from Crowley's Academy. I always wanted to follow in her footsteps."

"That's amazing," Alicia said. Cecilia nodded and turned back to gaze at her mother's tombstone.

"It is," she agreed. "She was there, in the Cohen Disaster. She single-handedly held off an army of rank A and rank B monsters so that a shipload of evacuees could successfully escape." She then closed her eyes, which were glittering a little with tears. "By the time Father and his team arrived, there wasn't much of her left to bury."

She then held her head up high.

"But she slew over a dozen rank A monsters and thirty rank B monsters. All by herself. Their corpses were lying around her and her Divine Device. She fought to her last breath."

I nodded, not sure what to say. "I see" would be too…stupid. So I could only murmur, "Yeah, she's a hero."

"Mother is a hero," Cecilia repeated. She then smiled and giggled as she gazed fondly at her mother's grave, sweeping her sapphire eyes across the angel. "Do you know how she met Father?"

Alicia and I glanced at each other, and then shook our heads silently.

"It's a funny story." The Stuart family's young mistress continued to observe her mother's grave. "She was once the most powerful mage of her own generation. Father only successfully wooed her by defeating her in combat. He met her in a training room in Crowley's Academy, and it was love at first sight for him. Mother told him that only men stronger than her will be worthy enough to be her boyfriend, and he challenged her immediately." She giggled. "Mother was probably joking, just to chase Father away. But Father took it seriously, and they dueled. He won, just barely…and then he pushed her down and stole her first kiss."

And then they got married. Wait, why did this sound like some cheesy scene from a certain web novel I had read somewhere before? One that involved a godlike Mary Sue protagonist who could wield every single weapon in existence?

"…so that's why…you were following your mother's footsteps…"

Alicia nodded in understanding. Cecilia grinned at her, and nodded.

"That's right."

"…" Alicia seemed to want to say something, but a loud crash interrupted her. Then there was a massive explosion. As the three of us spun around, we could see a colossal conflagration blossoming toward the sky, just outside the gates of the cemetery. Night momentarily turned into day, illuminated by the blinding flames that rose up like some funeral pyre reaching reverently to the heavens.

"What happened?!" Cecilia demanded, and she began running toward the entrance. Alicia and I urgently followed without another word, our minds spinning as we tried to absorb what was happening.

The three of us skidded to a stop once we burst out of the exit. To the side, the limousine was lying upside down, in flames. The gigantic fireball we saw from earlier had emerged from it, and even now it continued to burn furiously.

Scattered across the ground were the bodies of Cecilia's suited bodyguards. None of them were moving, and all of them were lying in slowly expanding pools of blood. Several of them were in pieces, and quite a few looked as if parts of their bodies had been obliterated or crushed into fleshy pulp.

"Ah…there you are, Miss Stuart."

Standing in the middle of the carnage and destruction was a young woman, swaying gently as she turned to face us with a broad smile. Towering behind her was a demonic black giant who looked as if he had been chiseled from iron.

The young lady smiled at Cecilia, her sinister expression sending chills down my spine despite not being directed at me.

"You saved me the trouble of looking for you."